Solidarity 161, 22 October 2009

Somewhere, out there, there must be a book which provides a decent analysis and critique, from a socialist perspective, of the SNP and the SNP minority government which has been in power at Holyrood since May 2007. Unfortunately — for reader and author alike — Tom Gallagher’s recently published work is not that book. The book begins with a history of Scotland from the Treaty of Union of 1707 through to the SNP’s election victory three centuries later. It is the good part of the book. The Union of 1707, Gallagher explains (like countless others before him) was not an act of annexation. On the...

The most disturbing thing about this programme were the images of two British Asian reporters (posing “undercover” as a couple living on a largely white working-class housing estate in Bristol), being subjected to daily racist bullying by children and young people. But that was not the only disturbing aspect of this programme. The two reporters (filming with cameras concealed in their clothes) were racially abused more than fifty times in eight weeks. It was a shocking experience for them — they both said they had never felt so threatened. And they surely did a good job in sticking it out for...

The Scottish Defence League (SDL) — an offshoot of the English Defence League (EDL) — is planning to demonstrate in Glasgow on Saturday 14 November. The EDL has been able to mobilise several hundreds for protests which it claims are against political Islam (but not ordinary Muslims) and the government’s alleged “softness” on Islamist movements. It has also publicly distanced itself from the BNP (just as the BNP has distanced itself from the EDL). As elsewhere in the UK, these people mean different things to different people. In practice, the EDL functions as a pole of attraction for racists...

A group of military top brass have released a statement condemning the “extremism” of the British National Party and accusing them of “hijacking the good name of the British military.” Apparently, the “values” of the modern military (“tolerance and fairness”) are “entirely at odds” with those of the BNP. One is reminded of the stand-up comedian Stewart Lee's routine about the “values” of the Carphone Warehouse, the giant telecoms corporation which withdrew its sponsorship from the TV show “Big Brother” after the race row on a recent series; “the ‘values’ of the Carphone Warehouse”, Lee sneers...

The agony and the ecstasy that come with commitment to the fascist politics of the British National Party have been shown in all their squalidness recently. On the side of agony comes the ruling on BNP membership conditions by the Equalities and Human Rights Council together with the leak of an updated membership list. On the ecstatic side the backbones of the racists, nationalists and fascist thugs who compose that membership will be substantially stiffened by the appearance of Nick Griffin on the BBC’s “Question Time” and the waves of publicity that come with it. How do all these things fit...

Sixty or seventy people attended the Workers’ Climate Action (WCA) conference in London on 10–11 October. Some had been involved in the network since the beginning, but many were new to WCA. The first day was made up of workshops aiming to educate activists and provoke debate. Paul Hampton’s session outlined key movement events like the Lucas Plan and the “green bans” movement centred around the New South Wales Builders Labourers Federation and made the case for the importance of working class agency in the fight against climate change. Roger Geffen and Ian Fillingham’s session covered the...

What follows is a critical report on the “Great Climate Swoop” a mobilisation by Climate Camp on Ratcliffe-on-Soar coal-fired power station. It took place on 17–18 October. Because of the diversity of tactics employed and the splitting up of the demo into several “blocs”, each with a distinct mission, it was difficult to tell exactly how many people had been mobilised for the action. The “bloc” I participated in —“Footsteps to the Future” — probably had around 200 people on it, with maybe another 300 on the other blocs. Throughout the day, we received text message updates informing us that...

It sounds so fantastically morbid you would be forgiven for thinking we have made it up. But the statistics show that job insecurity and bullying at work are leading increasing numbers of French workers to take their own lives. Twenty-four workers at France Telecom have killed themselves since the beginning of 2008. That’s a lot, but, as a recent article in the Economist shows it is in fact in line with the national average (14.6 suicides per 100,000 people). The Economist — which usually gives the bosses the benefit of the doubt —poses an important question: how is it that France, with its...

The first I had heard of the so called “Newcastle model” was at Unison conference in June this year. The basic idea is for local government workers (or their unions) to be enlisted in a process of “modernising” local government services. This may involve cuts (or cost savings), but those cuts would be one-off “reforms”. This process should help stop contracting-out/privatisation. Unison’s promotion of this strategy is extremely worrying. At conference there was a long presentation from various people in the Newcastle branch, a presentation which preceded a motion but “talked out” any debate...

Stephen Michaels, a student nurse from East London, spoke to Solidarity . Tell us a little bit about the work you do. I’m a student mental health nurse. I spend some time in classes, but mostly I’m in hospitals or out on community placements. It’s a lot of on the job training and we are treated as an extra pair of hands; my work involves talking to patients, getting them involved in their care — its very varied. There’s also loads of paperwork — mainly reports on patients and assessments. Do you and your workmates get the pay and conditions you deserve? Definitely not. Because of our status as...